This invention relates generally to the field of exercise equipment, and more particularly to a variable resistance exercise apparatus.
Exercise equipment of various types has been used for many years. In recent times, the increased sedentary lifestyle of today's work activity means that many people find in necessary and desirable to exercise all major muscle groups on a regular basis and preferably in the privacy of their own homes.
Existing exercise devices include weights mounted on pulleys, rubber band resistance cables having a gripping means at one end and attached to a stationary, immovable object at the opposite end, and isometric type exercises which use ones own body weight as a resistance element.
Deficiencies in the prior technology include the fact that weight related exercise apparatus tend to be heavy and hard to move and store easily. Additionally, they tend to exercise one muscle group at a time and require time consuming change of set up to exercise a different muscle group. Rubber band resistance type exercise devices do not have a constant force when resistance is applied and tend to have a less satisfactory feel than a constant type resistance force. Isometric type exercise uses only the resistance provided by ones own body weight that limits the range of resistance that one can apply to a particular muscle group.